Page 2 of Badges
I call over one of the nurses who ushers Libby into one of the side rooms, leaving me standing alone in the empty entry.
It’s always a flurry of activity, then a dead stop.
I should be used to it by now, but the sudden halt always makes me wary that something else will drop.
My dad said this crap runs in threes.
Taking a deep breath, I fold myself into one of the waiting room seats until the ambulance shows up.
Occasionally, my radio squawks giving me an update on their arrival.
Nearly two years of wondering about the bull puckey going on with the ranch attacks, and this is the first survivor. Floods of questions rattle around in my head, so I busy myself with jotting them down as I impatiently sit.
The longer I’m crammed in this chair, the more irritable I get.
Pain, trauma, and not to mention, the money lost. It adds up until the anger is boiling inside of me.
Kidnappings, rape, assault, theft, sabotage.
So many fucking crimes, and this miscreant will finally give me some answers.
Ambulance lights flicker across my chest when they pull in, refracted from the windows overlooking the bay.
I know better than to rush right in. Dixon would kick my ass out before I could get a single sentence out.
Paige saunters through the door a few moments later, then slumps into the chair next to me.
“Did she wake up?” I don’t glance up from my notebook. I keep thinking of new things to ask the perp.
“Yea, but didn’t say a damn thing. Just glared at me while they loaded her up. Rattled her cuffs a couple of times,” she snickers. “I bet she knows she’s screwed.”
“Did you get a chance to run her prints?” An ID would be handy before walking in there.
But Paige shakes her head. “Didn’t have a signal. I’ll go try again.” She pushes herself up and adjusts her gun belt when she stands. “Wanna join me in the parking lot?” Her smirk betrays the innuendo behind her words.
This on again, off again affair behind her husband’s back gets exhausting.
“I have to finish this.” I wave my pen over the half-filled page. “Rain check,” I grumble, looking back down to my notes.
As tempting as a good nut is to relieve some of this prickly tension that makes the little hairs on the back of my neck stand, I don’t want to look like I’m at her beck and call.
She shrugs, turning on her heel.
I wonder how many times I can turn her down before she starts getting pissed?
Something to worry about later. I got bigger fish to fry.
“Wade?” Dixon’s deep voice calls from the door to the ER.
I hop up, tilting my broad brimmed hat back. “Yup. Ready?”
He drops his chin before turning away. “She’s conscious and lucid. Waiting on the x-rays to come back, but if they’re clear, she’s all yours.”
Stopping short, I almost run into his broad back. He’s taller than me, although not by much.
“You gotta find out what’s going on,” he growls. “Because it’s hard wanting to treat her if she’s the one behind all of this—” His palm waves through the air. “—chaos.”
“I get it. I’ll find out.” I have to find out who she is first.
